Miliband faces own revolt on home rule for England

DAVID CAMERON faced open revolt from Tory grandees last night over his handling of the Scottish referendum as former ministers warned that he was on course to lose the next election.

Owen Paterson, the former environment secretary, told The Sunday Times that the prime minister did not even consult the cabinet about details of the referendum, including the question on the ballot paper and the timing of the vote.

In his first newspaper interview since being fired in the last reshuffle, Paterson warned that Cameron must adopt “robust, genuinely Conservative policies” or risk the “criminal failure” of letting Ed Miliband into Downing Street.

In an open challenge to Cameron’s authority, he also called on the prime minister to cut tax, tackle the “raw, open wound” of immigration and spell out what powers he wants to reclaim from Brussels, or he will be “walked all over”.